All About Details

Yesterday I finally finished my (first) version of view B, All About Details, from Cutting Line Designs. I almost hid it in the back of my stash closet at the beginning, but was glad to recover my senses and finish it. I like the current version very much.

The fabric is a piece I've had in my stash since a week in Arrowmont with Roland Ricketts some 3-4 years ago. With BSF I spent a whole week learning about the ancient Japanese approach to indigo dyeing. And I spent a great deal of time carving stencils while we waited on the dye vat to refresh. It's a PFD linen I purchased from Dharma Trading Company, fairly crisp and not especially heavy.

Linen is always fun to sew. There was no need to turn on the iron for many steps. A little finger pressing produces a sharp crease on this fabric. But the flip side is that it wrinkles much more than the softer linens I like to sew. And it is too light weight to use for most jackets.

So I decided to line it with some Thai silk. The pattern is designed to be unlined, but I really wanted to use this piece of linen and, with my eyes closed, I found the weight of the linen with the silk was just right. Initially I thought I'd take the simple approach to lining and line it all the way to the edge, creating a nearly reversible garment. It was at this point that I realized just how wrong that was:

The lining overwhelmed the soft color of the linen. I thought briefly about using the silk as the exterior. That was more wrong:

Bleh! What to do. My first instinct was to start ripping. But, for once, I paused and picked up another project, leaving this little disaster cooling on the dress form. That's when it dawned on me that I needed to take a more conventional approach to the lining by adding a facing to the front pieces.

It was easy to do and, in the process, I added a slot pocket in the left facing. Speaking of pockets, look how cool these *post-office* pockets are. These are part of the pattern, a jacket inspired by an early Issey Miyake jacket.

The lining process went fairly smoothly. First I finished the neckline edges and vertical front edges. It might have been a good idea to draft another facing for the back, but I did not do that. Second I attached the lining to the jacket at the side vents:

Next I opened up one side seam of the lining in order to easily attach the hems:

I deepened the sleeve facings in order to allow me to roll up the sleeves. This is a large silhouette, typical for Issey Miyake, and I think it helps to be able to roll up the sleeves. Otherwise it looks huge on me. Next time, I will probably go down to a size Small.

I love that this jacket afforded me much opportunity for sashiko. In fact, it's not just decorative. The double row of stitching on the jacket hem keeps everything tidy on the inside with no chance of droopy lining.

The sleeves are such a clever draft, making great use of the fabric grain. This seam runs down the front of the sleeve, visually connecting with the shoulder panels.

At this point, I can say that I'm quite happy with the piece. I look forward to trying it out, possibly in cold restaurants. It's way too hot here to wear it outside.

I'm pretty sure that I made a mistake on the installation of the lovely shoulder panels, as mine do not look like the drawing, but I'm happy anyway.

Now I'm ready to make something simple!